Sasuke and Hotaru no title yet! Prologue
by Kaytlin-Broflovski
Summary: Sasuke and Hotaru have been best friends since the day Hotaru was born, mere weeks after Sasuke. The two are of the Uchiha clan, very distant relatives. But there idol, Itachi, Sasuke's older brother, has been acting...strange.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

"Hotaru! Wanna go practice with our shuriken jutsu?" called a young Sasuke one afternoon to his friend. Hotaru smiled and nodded, and then rushed into her room to grab her bag. It held all her supplies: shuriken, kunai, the kind of things a young shinobi-in-training would require. Then she headed out to the training field with Sasuke.

Sasuke and Hotaru were both from the Uchiha clan- a very well known clan across the Hidden Leaf Village. They were best friends eve since Hotaru was born, shortly after Sasuke. Both of them admired Sasuke's older brother, Itachi, and were always happy on the rare occasion he would help them practice their jutsu.

"Is Itachi busy?" Hotaru asked Sasuke as they walked to the field. "Maybe we should've invited him."

"Nah…" Sasuke replied glumly, "he never wants to come. He's gotten so boring to be around lately…"

Hotaru sighed. She looked up to see the training field. To their surprise, Itachi was there, throwing shuriken at a small pillar with a target. There were already several kunai in the bull's-eye.

"Look! It's Itachi!" Hotaru exclaimed happily, pointing.

"Huh?" Sasuke responded, looking up through his big, keen eyes to see that his brother was indeed there. "Why's _he _here?"

The two children ran over to Itachi with smiles, calling out his name and waving. Itachi looked away from his training to see the two that admired him heading his way.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked them.

"Well, we were coming to practice OUR shuriken jutsu." said Hotaru.

"Looks like you got here first, Big Brother." Sasuke added.

Itachi's gaze fell on his little brother. Sasuke noticed once their eyes met.

"What's wrong, Big Brother? Don't you wanna help us with our shuriken jutsu?" he asked with a bit of a whine to his tone.

After a moment, Itachi leaned over and poked at Sasuke's forehead once. Sasuke winced and swatted his hand off.

"Stop doing that." he mumbled.

"Not right now, Sasuke, Hotaru. I'm busy." Itachi said lowly. And with that, he vanished, leaving his weapons embedded in the target.

Hotaru grumbled and stomped her foot once. "What's _his _problem, huh?!" she growled.

Sasuke sighed. "Aww, I dunno. Let's just practice." he said sadly, pulling a kunai knife out of the holster on his leg. Hotaru walked over to the pillar and pulled all the kunai and shuriken out, tossing them on the ground.

"Your brother has really good aim." she commented. "And he's only 17! I didn't think people got _that_ good until they were a lot older or something."

Sasuke tossed a shuriken, which landed a few inches from the bull's-eye. "Itachi's been training real hard lately." he stated proudly.

"Yeah. But why _would _he be working so hard all of a sudden?" Hotaru asked, walking over to Sasuke.

"He keeps a lot of things secret. And not just from us two- EVERYONE. Maybe I'll ask him about it later." said Sasuke.

"I'm gonna try to just forget about it." Hotaru sighed, throwing a kunai at the pillar. Sasuke and Hotaru gasped. The kunai had hit the center of the bull's-eye.

"Whoa, a bull's-eye! Way to go, Hotaru!" Sasuke cheered as his friend jumped up and down with joy.

"A perfect shot! A perfect shot!!" she cried happily. But suddenly, they noticed the sky growing dark. A clap of thunder sounded. Hotaru felt a drop of rain fall on her tiny nose as she sneered up at the approaching storm.

"Aww, man! Not another _storm_!" she whined.

"Come on, we should go home…" Sasuke sighed.

So, Sasuke and Hotaru quickly gathered their things. Sasuke noticed the weapons of Itachi's that Hotaru had thrown aside. He smiled and stuffed them in his bag as well and they rushed off to his house.

"I should go home, too. We'll probably eat soon…see you." said Hotaru, sadly watching Sasuke kick off his shoes on the rug.

"Okay. If the storm passes, you wanna come back later?" he asked with a warm smile.

Hotaru giggled. "Sure!" she replied. Sasuke waved goodbye and shut the door, the last thing he saw being Hotaru smiling and waving her farewell in return.

That evening...

"Mother, Sasuke invited me back over after the storm. Can I go?" Hotaru pleaded her mother that same evening following supper.

"That's fine," she replied. "Just be back before it gets to be your bedtime."

Hotaru dashed out the door, excited to see her best friend again.

"_I wonder if I could get another perfect shot on Sasuke's practice board again…_" she wondered.

Suddenly, Hotaru spotted something as she plodded along down the empty road. There, scattered all over the ground in an alley, were most of the members of the Uchiha clan. But something was wrong. They weren't standing- not even sitting. They were lying. And they were all dead. Covered in many lethal cuts and surrounded by blood.

"Wh-wha…what _happened_?!" she gasped, trembling. Every single person from their clan was there, with the exception of her mother and father, Sasuke, Sasuke's parents, and Itachi. A million thoughts raced through Hotaru's mind right then. How? Who? _Why_?

"Wait…" she muttered. "Is Sasuke okay?!"

Hotaru ran as fast as her young legs would go to Sasuke's house. But then she stopped, eyeing a dark figure standing in the moonlight. She recognized the figure as Itachi.

"Itachi!" she cried, running to him and grabbing his legs, burying her face against them. "Itachi, it's horrible! E-everyone, everyone in the clan's d-dead! I-I saw them b-b-back there! In an alley! There's-there's only a few people l-left!"

Hotaru kept sobbing. But Itachi just stared down at her.

"You…fail to understand." he said, and suddenly his eyes changed into a blood-red color. It was the Sharingan, the special dojutsu of the Uchiha clan.

"Huh?"

"Sasuke has left you. Forever."

Hotaru gasped and stepped away from Itachi.

"N-no…he-he wouldn't!" she protested, shaking her head slowly in disbelief. "Itachi, y-you're lying!"

"He wishes never to see you again. He left this place, only to be far away from you." said Itachi with a low tone. He reached behind his back. "Foolish girl. Hehated you."

"B-but that doesn't make any _sense_! He's my-my best friend! Why would he wanna leave me, why is most of our clan dead, and-" Hotaru was cut off when Itachi suddenly grabbed her by the neck and slowly lifted her up off the ground.

"I…ta…chi!" she choked, squirming around in Itachi's tight grasp.

"This…was MY doing," he said, closing his eyes. A moment of silence. Then he began to open his eyes, whispering, "Mangekyou Sharingan…"

Itachi's eyes flew open, revealing a different kind of Sharingan that Hotaru had never seen before. Suddenly, a devastating sensation filled her mind. As soon as she looked into Itachi's cold gaze, everything became dark.

But then she could see it. Itachi, brutally slaughtering every single person that she had seen back in the alley. And she wanted it to stop. But one by one, they fell to their deaths.

Hotaru began to scream as she was forced to watch so many deaths all at once- from her very own clan.

"Please! Don't kill me, Itachi! NO!!" she begged persistently. Just then, her eyes opened. It had ended. But what she saw was Itachi holding a kunai knife right in front of her face. "I-Itachi…please, don't kill me!"

"You will survive. But…" Itachi started. His knife slowly edged closer to the little girl's face. "You will live on…with nothing. Only loss. Only pain."

Hotaru began to whimper her eyes squeezed shut in fear. Then, Itachi's knife was thrust forward into her left eye, forcing her to shriek. She was dropped to the ground, the wound causing such unbearable pain as Itachi left the scene. Her world became dark once again as her blood spilled all around her.

"S-Sasuke…"


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

Hotaru sighed. "Another day…another mission." she mumbled as she staggered on down the dirt road. Her teammates were nowhere to be seen.

It had been years since Hotaru had survived the tragedy of the Uchiha clan. She was the last remaining member that she knew of…except for Itachi. But she had never seen Sasuke. Ever since that dreadful night, she had tried not to think of him at all.

Now, Hotaru lived on with her team in the Land of Wind, in the Hidden Sand Village. Her teammates, Zeon and Arc, were from this village. They were cousins from the Arashi clan. Their sensei, Koji, was from the Okami clan.

"Where could Zeon and Ar be?" Hotaru asked herself, glancing all around. Her team had always gotten really easy missions. But things were about to turn around. The Chuunin Exams were just ahead. They were eligible. But most of all, it was in the Hidden Leaf Village, the very place she was from and hadn't been since she left years ago.

Treading through the sand, Hotaru made her way back towards where Zeon and Arc lived and knocked on the door.

No one answered. She opened the door and found a note on the table.

_Hotaru,_

_Ar and I are out training. Koji-sensei is taking care of the mission. If you want to join us, you know where to look._

_-Zeon_

_P.S.- We're heading to the Leaf Village tomorrow for the exams. Can't wait!_

Hotaru left the note where it was and headed to the training grounds.

"I don't _want _to go back to the Leaf Village…too many bad memories…" she muttered as she made her way. Soon, Zeon and Arc were in her sight. They waved to her and she waved back.

"Glad ya showed up," said Arc.

"We were practicing wall-climbing." Zeon informed Hotaru.

"Aww, come on! We've got that down," she laughed.

"Can't hurt practicing," said Zeon with a shrug. Then he gained up speed and ran at a cliff wall.

Arc walked over to Hotaru and asked, "Hotaru…are you _sure_ you're okay with this? I mean, we all know how many times you've talked about 'never returning to the Leaf Village', and we're just worried that-"

"Ar, I _promise _you. I'll be fine…" said Hotaru with a tiny smirk. "I won't let things get to me. The whole thing's in the past now."

"But how can you say that?!quot; Arc demanded, all the more concerned. "How are we supposed to believe you've honestly just let everything go?"

"Ar…I know I went through a lot. I know that everyone once close to me is gone. But…I'm trying so hard to forget it ever happened. I wanna forget Sasuke…and I never wanna think of Itachi again…" Hotaru's voice became softer with every word.

Zeon back flipped off the cliff and landed next to Arc and Hotaru. "What's going on?" he asked, glancing back and forth between them. "You both look…sad."

"I'm just worried about Hotaru going back to the Leaf Village." said Arc.

"Yeah, Hotaru. You gonna be-" Hotaru cut Zeon off.

"I'm fine! I just want to forget that anything ever happened!! And I hope this damn left eye of mine never sees again!!quot; she shouted. Zeon and Arc stared. Hotaru rarely showed a temper towards them. They sighed, and Zeon went back to training with not more than a shake of the head.

Arc, however, looked back down at Hotaru. He worried about her often. But then he sighed and joined Zeon.

Hotaru just stood there, the wind kicking sand into her shoes. Was she _really_ ready for whatever might happen?

The next morning, Hotaru sat up in bed and swung her legs off the side. Across the room from her was her mirror. She stood up and walked over to it, taking a good, long look at the tape over her left eye.

The last thing that eye had ever seen was Itachi. Even if the wound had healed long ago, Hotaru didn't care. Hotaru wanted the very next thing that her left eye would see to be Sasuke. Even if it meant never taking the bandage off.

But after a while, Hotaru gathered her things and headed to the training field. Once she arrived, she noticed she was early. Zeon, Arc and Koji wouldn't meet her for a while. She sighed and looked to the skies, nervous.

"Things will be real different, now…" she muttered. As much as she denied it, she was really thinking about Sasuke. "I wonder if he still lives there. Or if he remembers me…What Itachi said to me couldn't have been true. Sasuke was my best friend! There's just no way…"

"_Wow. So much for never thinking of them again,_" she thought.

"Heeeey!" a voice called. Hotaru knew that it was Zeon. She turned to see him, Arc and Koji heading her way.

"Ready to go?" asked Koji. Hotaru nodded, yet not so sure of herself. She turned to Arc and said, "Sorry about yesterday…but really, I'll be okay."

After a pause, Koji said in a low voice, "Let's be off, then."

With that, Hotaru and the team set off for the Village Hidden in the Leaves.


	3. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

"This town is HUGE!! You actually lived here?!quot; Zeon yelled, his eyes darting all over. The team of four had just arrived at the Hidden Leaf Village. 

Arc nudged his cousin hard and growled, keeping his eyes on Hotaru. "Ow, hey!" Zeon mumbled, glaring at Arc and rubbing his arm. But then he noticed Hotaru, observing the town with an expression her teammates couldn't read.

"_I'm back…I haven't been here in years! What if Sasuke's still here? Or…Itachi could still be here, too…_" she thought.

"Take some time. I'm sure you want to explore a little. Meet us at the motel by the end of the day." said Koji with a smile. Then he walked off with Zeon and Arc, patting Hotaru's shoulder once as he passed her. Hotaru watched them leave and then began to walk along the busy street.

"What am I thinking?" she asked herself. "Of course they wouldn't be here. Sasuke probably left like I did."

Hotaru ventured all over the town. Soon she came to what seemed to be a small memorial stone. Names were engraved all over it. A few flowers growing circled the stone as well.

"I remember this place. Besides the names, it hasn't changed it all…" she said to herself, observing the whole of the scenery with a bit of a smile. But when she looked back at the stone, she began reading through a few names.

Only one Uchiha was named there, and she didn't even know him. But then Hotaru remembered that the people named here were _heroes_, not victims. But still the memories of her last night here haunted her.

Hotaru fell to her elbows and knees where she stood. She pounded a fist into the ground, hard. "It shouldn't have happened!" she screamed. "They're all gone, dammit! And probably Sasuke, too! He's gone…" Her tears dripped onto the stone ground. Soon she wiped them from her face and stood up.

"But you can't be gone, Sasuke…Itachi, he lied to me…he killed you, too." she muttered, sniffling a few times while glaring at the stone.

"Mind if I join you?" a voice came from behind her. Hotaru jumped and looked behind her to see a man with tall, silvery hair and a navy blue mask over his mouth and nose. She recognized the vest he wore, designating him a jonin. His headband, which had the Leaf symbol, was pulled down over his left eye.

Hotaru just turned back around, pulling her jacket over her front side. The man walked up and stood beside her, his hands stuffed in his pockets. For a while, neither of them said a thing. They merely stood, staring down at the memorial stone. Finally, the man spoke again.

"I don't mean to eavesdrop, but…" he started. Hotaru looked up at him, curious. He continued: "You…mentioned someone by the name of Sasuke?"

Hotaru gasped. "Why do you ask?"

"Come with me." said the man, looking down on Hotaru. Then he turned and started walking towards the trail. Hotaru hesitated, and then followed after him.

A few minutes later, Hotaru was led to the training field. Nothing had changed there, either. What could this man be leading her to?

They stopped and he muttered to himself, "They'll be surprised. I'm earlier than them for once."

Soon, a boy wearing blue and white clothing and the Leaf headband arrived. But this boy was very familiar to Hotaru. She hid behind the man.

"Hey, Kakashi. This sure is a change- you're earlier than even me." the boy scoffed.

"Humph. I'm early _some_times…" the man named Kakashi mumbled with sarcasm. "Sasuke, you've got a friend looking for you."

Hotaru gasped and her eyes grew wide. She slowly turned around as Kakashi stepped out of the way. There, before her, stood Sasuke Uchiha. But he only stared at her, clueless.

Kakashi noticed two other people heading their way. He walked over to them and told them, "Training's off today. Let's go." The other two began barraging him with questions as they left Sasuke and Hotaru alone.

"Do I…know you from somewhere?" Sasuke finally asked.

Hotaru gasped again and spoke softly, "S-Sasuke…It's me!"

Sasuke blinked. He still couldn't quite place who she was.

"It's me…" Hotaru repeated slowly, "Hotaru Uchiha."

Immediately, Sasuke fell speechless. His eyes became wider than Hotaru's had. Her smile only grew as she undid her jacket in the front and showed Sasuke the Uchiha symbol on the front of her shirt.

"But you…" Sasuke finally whispered, "Itachi…he _killed_ you!"

"No…we're the only ones left. You, me, and him." said Hotaru.

Suddenly, Sasuke flung his arms around Hotaru and pulled her close. "I never once thought..you were still out there…" he murmured.

Hotaru felt something small and wet fall on her shoulder. He was crying. She closed her eyes and hugged Sasuke back. But then she noticed it was starting to rain heavily. They heard thunder rumbling off in the distance.

"Sasuke…it was raining then, too," Hotaru whispered, as her own tears fell to the ground once again.

Later..

"So where had you been all this time?" Sasuke asked Hotaru as they sat on a bench sheltered from the rain.

"Well…after Itachi…well, you know…I-I ran away to the Sand Village, in the Land of Wind." Hotaru explained quietly.

"Why did you come back?"

"The Chuunin Exams."

"What?! Y-you're taking part, too?"

"Yeah, why?"

"So am I."

"Really! Have you taken it before?"

"No."

"Me neither. I heard it's hard."

"Yeah."

After that last word from Sasuke, the two were silent for a while. But they had many questions. Sasuke started:

"Hotaru…why is your eye covered up?"

Hotaru blinked. She didn't want to tell him. But she knew she couldn't lie to Sasuke.

"It was Itachi."

"What did he do?!quot;

"He…s-stabbed my left eye. He was the last thing this eye has ever seen since then." Hotaru put a hand to her bandaged eye.

More silence. Hotaru yawned.

"It won't happen again." said Sasuke, breaking the silence with his low, serious statement.

"Huh?" muttered Hotaru, looking up at him. He stood, gazing at the full moon.

"From now on…I'll protect you with my life. We are the only ones left, and we can't let anything happen to each other.  I won't lose you again; you certainly won't lose me."

After Sasuke finished, he trodded off, leaving Hotaru stunned by his words. A moment later, she stood as well and hurried to the motel.

Sasuke was all Hotaru could think about on the way. Once again, he was at her side. Once again, they were together.

He WAS alive.

He hadn't forgotten about her.

A firefly crossed her path.


	4. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Hotaru waltzed into the motel room, grinning and humming happily. Her team was there, staring at her, confused.

"What are YOU so happy about?" Zeon laughed with a smirk.

"Oh! Hey guys…" said Hotaru, stopping in her tracks. "You'll never believe this! I found him! I met Sasuke again!!"

"Sasuke? You mean that friend of yours from the same clan as you?" asked Arc.

"Yeah…" Hotaru mumbled, yawning. "And he's gonna be at the exams, too."

"Man, hope you don't have to fight him or anything," said Zeon.

Hotaru's smile vanished. She didn't even imagine once having to battle with Sasuke. She pictured him fighting with no mercy and defeating her instantly. Sasuke forfeiting the match because he didn't want to hurt her.

"Wow…never thought of that," she muttered.

"Well, at least WE won't have to fight each _other_," said Arc, stretching his arms and sprawling about on the carpet.

"Yeah," said Hotaru with a sigh.

"Get some rest, you three. The exams begin tomorrow." said Koji, exiting the room and closing the door behind him.

Zeon and Arc got settled on the floor while Hotaru just sat on the bed, frowning.

"Hotaru?" said Arc. "Is something wrong?"

"I…_can't_ fight Sasuke," she replied, sighing again.

Arc sat up and yelled at his cousin, "Z, why'd you have to go and say that?! She was in such a good mood after seeing Sasuke again. You ruined it!!"

Zeon just stared at his cousin seriously. "She has to know what might happen to her." he retorted. Then he turned on his side, facing away from Arc and Hotaru and falling asleep.

Arc sighed and lay back down. "Sorry, Hotaru. Try not to think of it. And you can have the bed tonight."

"…'kay…" was all that Hotaru could suspire. She curled up under the blanket and tried to fall asleep as well.

It took her quite a while.

Suddenly, Hotaru found herself in battle with Sasuke. They were in a small arena, and her team along with a few other people were standing off to the sides.

Sasuke jumped in the air, performing a few hand signs. "Fire style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" he shouted, forming a ring around his mouth with two fingers. This caused a series of fireballs to emit from his mouth and fly in Hotaru's direction.

Her eyes bugging, Hotaru screamed and quickly threw her arms in front of her in an attempt at defense. Just as the fire was about to hit, she felt a splash of water in her face from nowhere.

"Hotaru, wake up!"

"Zeon! What the hell were you thinking?!"

"Just go get Koji-sensei! Dammit! Hotaru, what's wrong?!"

Hotaru quickly sat up in bed. The battle had only been a bad dream. She started to breathe heavily.

"Hotaru!" came two voices. She saw Arc and Zeon standing next to the bed. Zeon was holding a paper cup.

"You were screaming! What was going on?" asked Arc.

"You dreamed…that you were fighting Sasuke, right?" came Koji's voice. The students noticed him standing in the doorway.

"Yeah…" said Hotaru.

"You okay?" asked Zeon.

"I'm fine." said Hotaru, standing up and walking past Koji and out the door.  "You two had better get ready. And keep an eye on Hotaru during these exams for me." said Koji to Zeon and Arc.

"Yeah," they responded. Koji vanished in a small cloud.

Arc sighed. "You think she'll be-"

"Only Hotaru knows." Zeon interuppted. They both merely sighed again and left the room.

Students began piling into the room and sitting in desks. Hotaru didn't know a soul from who she could see so far.

"Hotaru!" came a voice. Hotaru saw Sasuke standing right next to her. "I was wondering where you were." Sasuke sat down.

"Sasuke! How've you been?" asked Hotaru.

"Excited." he said, determined.

Just then, the proctor came into the room.

"Everyone quiet down! We're going to begin with a written exam!" he said harshly.

"HUH?!" cried Hotaru, her jaw dropping to the desk. "I wasn't prepared for _this_…!"

"Hmph. Don't worry, it'll probably just be some basic ninja rules or something." said Sasuke.

"Yeah…" said Hotaru with a nervous gulp.

Now, there are certain rules to this test." said the proctor as a few jonin began passing out tests. "But first, let me introduce myself. I am Ibiki Morino, your proctor for the first exam, and…your worst enemy."

Hotaru gulped again. "This guy's pretty intimidating, huh…" she whispered to Sasuke.

He smirked devilishly and asked, "You're not _scared_,****are you, Hotaru?"

"N-no! Of…course not…" Hotaru muttered.

Ibiki finished writing on the blackboard. There he had written down the rules.

"First of all, a quite obvious rule- absolutely no cheating whatsoever. And we WILL know if you do. The Chuunin sitting around the room will deduct two of your ten points each time they catch you cheating. If you are caught five times, you and your teammates will fail." Ibiki explained.

"Correct." said Ibiki. "And another thing: there will be a tenth question. It will be given at the last fifteen minutes of your test time. You will have on hour total."

There was a pause. Everyone picked up their pencils.

"You may begin!"

After Ibiki's command, everyone observed the test in front of them.

"_Let's see…_" Hotaru thought, eyeing the first question. She read it over carefully, then frowned. She read it again. The very first question left her puzzled for a long time.

"I get it…" muttered Sasuke after a while.

"Get what? These questions are impossible for people as young as us!" whispered Hotaru, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Exactly," said Sasuke. "When you really think on it, just cheating once on any normal test would usually mean immediate disqualification. But they're letting us get away with it _five_ times before failing. I think…they _want_ for us to cheat. I'm guessing that they're testing our ability to…gather information without getting caught. Or something…"

Sasuke had Hotaru confused. "You really think…that they want us to CHEAT?" she asked, frowning more.

"Watch this," replied Sasuke. He closed his eyes. When they opened, they revealed his Sharingan. He proceeded to study the entire room, Hotaru watching tentatively. Suddenly, he smirked again and began writing on the paper.

Hotaru gasped. "I get it now!" she cheered, keeping her voice down. Within a blink, her Sharingan eye appeared as well. Another person had completed their test. She copied the entire thing.

Both of them just sat there, letting their dojutsu do all the work. Soon they had all nine answers filled in. But then he last fifteen minutes finally came. They sighed and plunked back in their chairs.

"Everyone- pencils down. It's time for the tenth question at last," said Ibiki.

Hotaru became nervous all over again. What could the tenth question be?


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

**Chapter Four**

"Okay, as long as Ar and Zeon got it, I-I should be okay, too…" Hotaru told herself frantically.

"Let me tell you all something about this tenth and final question," Ibiki started. He cleared his throat. "You may choose…whether or not you take it."

Several gasps were heard.

""_But_…you and your teammates would immediately fail if you were to decide not to. And if your team takes the question and answers it correctly, you will all pass. Now…if you get the question WRONG…not only will your team fail…" Ibiki paused. His devilish grin vanished. "…but your team will be barred from these exams, forever!"

Hotaru froze. She wasn't so sure of herself anymore. Her heart pounded.

"What?! You're kidding!" someone yelled angrily. "That's totally unfair!!"

"Calm down. Those are the rules." said Ibiki, his grin returning. "Anyone who would like to drop out now, please raise your hand."

Another pause. A few people began to sheepishly raise their hands. Once they had left, Ibiki continued.

"All right," he said lowly. "Before we give you the final question, I would like to tell you all a little something…"

Silence. "What is it, then?" Sasuke asked impatiently.

More silence. Pounding hearts.

"Congratulations," said Ibiki. "You have all passed the first exam."

Dead silence. All were astonished. Hotaru's pencil dropped to the desk.

"Wait, what's going on? We all pass? What about the tenth question?!" she cried, now not only shocked but a bit frustrated.

"First, allow me to explain something about the test," said Ibiki, holding up a hand as if motioning the students to wait. "Did any of you notice the difficulty of this test?"

Sasuke and Hotaru smirked at each other out of the corners of their eyes.

"Duh- they were way too-" someone blurted out.

"Too difficult for people your age?" Ibiki interrupted. "Then I gave a rule that you could each get away with cheating _five times_? During a normal test, you SHOULD be disqualified upon cheating only _once._ You see, this test was not meant to test how well you knew your shinobi tactics- it was testing your abilities of secretly gathering information and not getting caught. Two of our Chuunin sat in with you, and their tests had all the correct answers."

Two men chuckled and held up their hands.

"Clever," muttered Hotaru.

"Okay, but what about the whole 'tenth question' thing?" shouted Zeon from one of the back rows.

"There never was one!" Ibiki laughed. "THAT was a test of intimidation. Most of those who just left were too worried that they would mess it up for their teammates."

"And…you wanted to see if we could get past that thought, right?" asked a pink-haired girl in the row in front of Hotaru.

"Exactly. And you all passed." replied Ibiki with a smile.

Hotaru smiled, too.

"_Time for round two_," she thought, excited.

And an hour later…

"That was pretty confusing, huh?" Hotaru sighed as she and Sasuke chowed down on rice at a diner. She giggled a bit. "By the way, thanks for your help back there."

"I'm surprised you didn't figure it out first," said Sasuke, staring out the window. "That was close. But don't get fooled like that again."

Hotaru frowned. "Y'know…you've really changed, Sasuke," she mumbled. "Is something wrong? I mean…you don't seem as happy as I thought you'd be to see me…"

Sasuke stared at Hotaru, groping for words. "I didn't mean anything…But, that's pretty much all there is to it. I've just changed…a lot.

They ate some more, silently. Then Hotaru got a thought.

"Sasuke…do you hate Itachi?" she asked seriously.

Sasuke froze and gazed up at Hotaru. "I'm gonna kill him for what he did," he responded lowly. "But I need more…power…"

Hotaru stood deliberately, her frown growing. "You're so much different…and I want my best friend back."

She left at that word, leaving Sasuke dumbstruck at the table. He sighed and paid the bill.

That night…

Hotaru staggered into the motel room. No one else was there yet. She plunked down onto the bed with a sigh.

"I should've assumed he'd changed…" she muttered. "But maybe I shouldn't have been so…stuck-up back there."

A while later, Arc came in and noticed Hotaru. She had fallen asleep on the bed, but her eyes appeared lined with tears.

Arc frowned and pulled a blanket over her. Then he lay down on the floor and sighed.

"We never should've brought her here…" he mumbled softly. Then he closed his eyes and soon fell asleep as well.

Hotaru met Sasuke the next morning at the meeting grounds for the second exam.

"Sasuke, I uh…Sorry about last night. I didn't really mean any of th-" she started. Sasuke held a hand up.

"I understand." he responded. "Trust me…you have no idea. I DID miss you."

Both of them smiled until someone with blonde hair poked out from behind Sasuke.

"Heeeey, who's the girl, Sasuke?" he teased.

"I'm Hotaru," she giggled. "And you are?"

The blonde boy pointed to himself and grinned proudly, shouting, "My name's Naruto Uzumaki! And I'm gonna be the strongest ninja in the village one day! The hokage, believe it!"

Hotaru stared at him quizzically. "Wow. Spontaneous." she replied slowly. "So, you're a friend of Sasuke's, too?"

"He's my teammate…" Sasuke sighed, frowning with embarrassment.

Hotaru tried not to laugh. She reached up on her toes and whispered into Sasuke's ear, "I'm sooo sorry!" She grinned as he glared at her.

"Hotaru, huh? Where ya from?" asked Naruto.

"Actually…here," she explained. "But for a while now, I've lived in the Land of Wind."

"You used to live here?" said Naruto, confused. "I don't remember you. What clan?"

"I'm from the U-" Sasuke slapped a hand over Hotaru's mouth. "Ther Urchiher clern." she ended up mumbling.

"What're you doing, Sasuke?" Naruto grumbled with a frown.

"Forget it." said Sasuke. "Where's Sakura?"

Naruto hummed in upset. "Talk about changing the subject…" he muttered. "Well, whatever. She's over there." He tossed his head a bit, motioning behind him. Hotaru realized that his gesture was towards the same pink-haired girl that she had seen at the first exam. Sasuke led her over to the girl named Sakura, Naruto tagging along behind them.

Sakura saw them coming and called, "Oh, hi Sasuke! Hey, who's your friend?"

"Her name's Hotaru. She came back here for the Chuunin exams." said Sasuke as Hotaru bowed playfully.

"Came back?" Sakura repeated curiously. "You used to live here? I don't think I've met you before."

"I moved away for a while. But I did live here, at first." Hotaru explained again.

"Well anyway, my name is Sakura Haruno! I'm Sasuke's teammate."

"Saku-_ra_!" Naruto whined. "What about me?"

"Ahh, pipe down, ya big dork," Sakura grumbled, folding her arms.

Just then, a voice yelled out over the crowd. "All right, you worms! Time for things to get serious. My name's Anko Mitarashi, your proctor for this, the second exam!"

Hotaru gulped just seeing the purple-haired woman. She continued: "And this is the location, Area 44. But we like to call it…the Forest of Death."


End file.
